GMC

GMC Mechanics

We use a lot of them, but not all of them. This page is your go-to for any questions about which version of which rules we use where.

See the Merits page for which GMC merits we use. As a rule of thumb, if it's a mortal or a general merit, we use the GMC version rather than the 1.0 version.

Combat Mechanics

Most of the combat mechanics are GMC rather than 1.0. Where the GMC higher Defense would make Changeling/Psychic/Thaumaturgical powers pointless, House Rules have been written to accommodate that. See the House Rules page for these.

The base chart below was derived from GMC p.197. Certain sections have minor textual edits to reflect the difference between posing in text and having a ST sitting across a table from you.

Combat Summary Chart
Stage One: Intent
•	The players and the Storyteller describe what their characters want out of the fight.
•	Decide whether characters can surrender and can become Beaten Down.
Stage Two: Initiative
•	If the attacker springs an ambush or otherwise strikes when the defender isn’t able to counter, the defender rolls Wits + Composure contested by the attacker’s Dexterity + Stealth. If the defender fails, she doesn’t act on the first turn of combat and cannot apply Defense against attacks.
•	Everyone rolls Initiative: the result of a die roll + Dexterity + Composure. If the character has a weapon readied, apply its Initiative Modifier.
Stage Three: Attack
•	Unarmed Combat: Strength + Brawl vs. Defense
•	Melee Combat: Strength + Weaponry vs. Defense
•	Ranged Combat: Dexterity + Firearms
•	Thrown Weapons: Dexterity + Athletics vs. Defense A character’s Defense is normally subtracted from any attack dice pools where it applies. If she chooses to Dodge, the defender rolls her Defense as a dice pool against each attack. Each success reduces the attacker’s successes by one. If the attacker is reduced to zero successes, the attack does nothing. If the attacker has successes remaining, add any weapon modifier to the number of successes to determine how many points of Health the target loses. All weapons deal lethal damage.
Stage Four: The ST has the player pose their actions, descriptive, but brief, while the next player declares an action and rolls it.
Possible Modifiers
•	Aiming: +1 per turn to a +3 maximum
•	All-Out Attack: +2 with Brawl or Weaponry attack; lose Defense
•	Armor Piercing: Ignores amount of target’s armor equal to item’s rating
•
•	Autofire Long Burst: 20 or so bullets, no target limit pending Storyteller approval. A +3 bonus is applied to each attack roll; –1 per roll for each target after the first
•	Autofire Medium Burst: 10 or so bullets at one to three targets, with a +2 bonus to each attack roll; –1 per roll for each target after the first
•	Autofire Short Burst: Three bullets at a single target with a +1 bonus to the roll
•	Concealment: Barely –1; partially –2; substantially –3; fully, see “Cover”
•	Cover: Subtract Durability from damage; if Durability is greater than weapon modifier, attack has no effect
•	Dodge: Double Defense, roll as a dice pool with each success subtracting one from the attacker’s successes
•	Drawing a Weapon: Requires instant action without a Merit and could negate Defense
•	Firing from Concealment: Shooter’s own concealment quality (–1, –2 or –3) reduced by one as a penalty to fire back (so, no modifier, –1 or –2)
•	Offhand Attack: –2 penalty
•	Prone Target: –2 penalty to hit in ranged combat; +2 bonus to hit when attacker is within close-combat distance
•	Range: –2 at medium range, –4 at long range
•	Shooting into Close Combat: –2 per combatant avoided in a single shot (not applicable to autofire); –4 if grappling
•	Specified Target: Torso –1, leg or arm –2, head –3, hand –4, eye –5
•	Surprised or Immobilized Target: Defense doesn’t apply
•	Touching a Target: Dexterity + Brawl or Dexterity + Weaponry; armor may or may not apply, but Defense does apply
•	Willpower: Add three dice or +2 to a Resistance trait (Stamina, Resolve, or Composure) in one roll or instance

Surprise

GMC. Roll Wits + Composure contested by your opponent's Dexterity + Stealth. If you lose, you don't get an action on the first turn of combat and can't apply your Defense to any incoming attacks. You roll your Initiative on the second turn instead.

Attack

GMC. See chart above.

Damage

GMC. Damage is determined by the number of successes on your attack roll, plus any weapon bonuses. If your opponent's Defense blocks all of your successes, you do no damage. Weapon bonuses are applied after you subtract Defense.

If you use a weapon, the damage is always Lethal unless specified otherwise.
If you attack with hands/feet, the damage is always Bashing unless specified otherwise.

Defense

GMC? Yes. Your Defense is now the LOWER of your Dexterity or Wits + Athletics.

Defense is subtracted from all unarmed, thrown or weaponry attacks that the character is aware of.

Spending Willpower on Defense increases it by 2 for one attack.

Every time you apply your Defense against an attack, reduce it by 1 for each subsequent attack until the start of the next turn.

Dodge

GMC. Dodge by doubling your Defense pool, but don't subtract it from attack rolls. Instead, roll your doubled Defense as a dice pool and subtract any successes from the attacker's successes.

This is an exception to the normal rules for contested actions.

If you roll at least as many successes as the attacker, the attack misses. Subtract these successes before adding the weapon bonus.

You may spend Willpower to get +3 on dodge rolls.

If your Defense has been reduced by previous attacks so far that hits zero, your dodge roll is reduced to a chance die. If you get a dramatic failure on the roll, reduce your Defense by 1 on the next turn.

Pulling Blows

GMC. Nominate a maximum damage you are willing to do, no greater than the highest trait in your attack pool (ex. if you're Strength 2 and Brawl 4, you can choose between 1-4 points of damage). Your opponent gets +1 Defense against your blow.

NOTE: We are using the optional rule to allow reflexive expenditure of Willpower before a blow to make it deal Bashing instead of Lethal damage.

Bite

GMC. Humans do -1B. Humans and human-like creatures without protruding jaws can only bite after they have grappled someone.
A large dog might to +0L, a wolf +1, a great white shark +4, etc.

Disarm

GMC. Roll Strength + Brawl vs. your opponent's Strength + Athletics. If you win, they drop the weapon. If you get an exceptional, you steal the weapon. If you get a dramatic failure, you take damage equal to the weapon's damage bonus.

Grapple

GMC. Roll Strength + Brawl - Defense to initiate a grapple. See pp.199-200 in the GMC book for an extended list of actions you can take while grappling.

Ranged Weapons

GMC. Most of the bare mechanics are already listed, up in the table above. See GMC p.200 for longer explanations.

NOTE: As far as staff is concerned, using a human shield (GMC p.201) is very definitely a breaking point, unless your Integrity is already so low you're a bloody sociopath. ;)

Killing Blow

GMC p.203.

Weapons

GMC pp.204-5. Improvised weapons section is also on p.205.

Armor

GMC. Remember: Armor is no longer added to Defense.

The two armor ratings work as follows:

• General armor applies to all attacks other than firearms/archery.
• Ballistic armor applies to firearms/archery.

Even if your armor reduces a Lethal attack to 0 damage, you still take 1B from the impact.

Armor does not stack. You can't wear a Kevlar vest under full riot gear and get any additional benefits.
You can, however, wear separate armor for separate body parts. As far as staff is concerned, if you are wearing a vest, that covers your torso, and called shots to other body parts won't be hitting it. If you're wearing shinguards, they protect your shins, not your face. Pay attention to what your armor actually guards against. It's sure your opponents will.

Armor Piercing

GMC. Weapons with armor piercing have ratings between 1 to 3. Subtract that number from the target's ballistic armor first, then general armor. The result is their new armor score for that particular attack.

If you're shooting at someone in cover, subtract the piercing quality from the cover's Durability. It is no longer capable of piercing the target's armor once it has passed through their cover.

Tilts

This is a biggie, and to be transparent here, it was a staff decision of much waffling and indecision. Yes, we are using Tilts. The choice to avoid officially using Conditions outside of combat was motivated in part by our different XP system and partially by the inconvenience of tracking them. There is no coded system for tracking tilts; you are responsible for your own RP, and your ST will notice if you consistently keep using the arm you supposedly broke two poses back.

Social Combat

Ye gods no. This system is a blight on the face of the earth. :)

We are plugging our ears and singing la la la la la very hard to forget that this exists. The idea was interesting. The application was atrocious.